The present disclosure relates generally to high-power laser systems, and more particularly, to diode drivers included in a high-power laser system.
Traditional high-power solid state lasers typically use single and multiple parallel laser amplifier beamlines in a master oscillator/power amplifier (MOPA) configuration. The MOPA configuration includes multiple large and relatively low-gain laser amplifiers. Each laser power amplifier includes a diode driver that supplies a regulated current to single or multiple strings of laser diodes (also known as laser pump arrays) that optically excite the main laser medium such as a laser crystal element.
Conventional diode driver circuits are uniquely designed for each of the gain stages given each required variation in the length of the diode string, i.e., different quantities of laser diodes connected in series. For instance, planar waveguide (PWG) laser systems typically require only one high-gain amplifier in a MOPA architecture. However, applications that span land, sea, air and space domains have a broad range of input line voltages, while also demanding a wide range of output power.
In addition, the laser diodes (i.e., pump arrays) employed in high-power laser systems are typically wired in series with one another, and represent a sizeable portion of the overall system cost. Consequently, a large number of laser diodes can be destroyed if the system suffers a fault condition such as, for example, a short-circuit.